The Run for the River, one of the events with the goal of revitalizing downtown Kinston, has been cancelled for next year.

As the Pride of Kinston agreed to its budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year, the event was taken off of the list due to budget cuts. A loss of a grant and increased loan repayment fees forced the organization to shave $16,000 off the new budget and find other ways to acquire revenue.

“There were so many resources dedicated to Run for the River, so we had to put it on the chopping block,” Pride Treasurer Kevin Zoltek said.

The first Run for the River was in 2006, as thousands of people around the state and country came out to watch or compete in the race typically held every fourth Saturday in March. In 2012, a record 266 runners came out for the 8-kilometer — about 4.97 miles — race, along with 72 participants for the 1-mile Fun Run.

“We wanted to bring people to city and we were able to do that with this race,” Pride director Adrian King said.

This year, though, the number of participants dropped to 170 in the race and 52 for the Fun Run. Still, Zoltek believed the race served its purpose in changing the mindset of downtown Kinston to many.

“There was so much negativity about downtown, so we felt like we needed to bring people here with activity,” Zoltek said. “We created events like Sand in the Streets and Run for the River. Over the years, they got people downtown and now that we’re in the early stages of a downtown renaissance, the Board of Directors feels like Adrian needs to dedicate his energy toward property development. It was a conscientious decision by the board.”

With the race being suspended, King said the Pride of Kinston will work on creating more plans to draw more people into the city.

“It gives us more freedom to refocus toward other things such as getting people to spend and invest in the community,” King said. “Not that we haven’t been doing that, but now we’ll have additional time to make things happen in the city of Kinston.”

Although the Pride of Kinston won’t be hosting Run for the River next year, there is a chance the race could go on.

“If anyone is interested in taking on Run for the River, we can do a joint partnership so Adrian doesn’t have to dedicate all of his resources toward the race,” Zoltek said.

King is hoping a sponsor does create a joint venture and keep the race going.

“Hopefully, someone else could pick it up next spring,” King said. “I hate that we can’t be the ones to do it, but we’ll see what happens.”

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Junious Smith III can be reached at 252-559-1077 and Junious.Smith@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JuniousSmithIII.